I frequently suffer from dry eyes and because I spend all day working on computers and therefore staring at screens I find some days are worse than others, especially if I have also been wearing my contact lenses for any length of time.

I have used eye drops to alleviate dry eyes in the past and because I also suffer from hayfever and the summer months can mean added irritation, I always keep a bottle of eye drops in the fridge for immediate cooling and soothing of my eyes.

I bought a bottle of this Optrex Actimist when I saw it on offer for £7.99 in my local Lloyds Pharmacy a few months ago, I had been curious about the product since seeing the advertisements on TV showing that you spray it directly on to closed eyelids, but at the full price of £11.99 for a 10ml bottle I thought this was a bit steep.

You can find this product online for less than the full £11.99 price tag and I notice people are selling it on eBay for around the £8 mark - I would always use caution when buying this kind of product from a non-pharmacy site however so bear that in mind if you are shopping around and make sure the product you buy is a) legitimate and b) sealed.

The small glass bottle comes in a cardboard box with the standard Optrex logo and branding, in my local chemist this is kept with the eyedrops and contact lens solutions. Each bottle apparently contains around 100 sprays.

To use this product you literally close your eyes, hold the spray around 15cm from your face and spray over the eyelid area. You are then advised to wait around 15 seconds before opening the eyes, the product penetrates through the eyelid and then repairs the tear film (gaps and damage within which are the most common cause of dry and irritated eyes). The great thing is that you can use this while actually wearing contact lenses, you do not need to remove them first.

So what does it feel like? Well I have to admit I was expecting big things from this product but to be honest you don't feel an awful lot after spraying it on your closed eyes - and you really do need to wait out the recommended 15 seconds because if you open your eyes too soon it stings a little bit. As is sits on your eyelids it just feels like a cool veil is being created over your eyes, it is not dramatic but it is soothing and you can definitely feel something.

The major difference seems to happen once you open your eyes and blink a couple of times, you can then really feel a soothing effect and a definite boost to the moisture in your eyes. Although I love the fact that you can use this with lenses in (and it is great for refreshing your lenses and eradicating any grittiness which can get worse as the day goes on) I definitely think that the nicest and most refreshing effect happens when you use them on your eyes without lenses in.

The overall effect of this spray is one of instant soothing, cooling and re-moisturising, it is not like an instant hit of water like eye drops (which will also run straight out of your eyes to some extent) but it feels very much like an invigorating eye bath - it takes your eyes back to how they feel when you have had a really great nights sleep and it does get rid of soreness and irritation from dry eyes with immediate effect.

I do think this is a fab product and it is one which I will continue to use, I just hope that it either comes down in price naturally or someone else creates a similar product and encourages some competition. Unlike with eye drops there is no need to use this within a month or so of opening it so hopefully a bottle can last a long time, to be honest though, even at the full price I do believe this spray is worth the price tag purely for the effect it has on dry and sore eyes.